You can now try out beta versions of Gboard and Google Play Services

If you want to be one of the first to try out new features in Google’s Gboard Android keyboard, along with Google Play Services, there’s a new way to do just that. Google has launched beta versions of both Gboard and Google Play Services in the Play Store that can be accessed and used right now.

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As with many of the other beta apps in the Google Play Store, you have first agree to download what are early versions of Gboard and Google Play Services, and not the ones that are the official stable versions. As such, the download links warn that users who access these beta version might discover they “may be unstable or have a few bugs”. That’s the price you have to pay if you want to get the first shot at new features.

In case you are not aware, Google Play Services runs in the background and allows other Google Android apps to be updated without the need to update the entire Android operating system at the same time. It also provides Android apps with a number of features like location services, authentication features and more.

Gboard is the replacement for Google Keyboard on Android, and it launched pretty recently in December 2016. You can enable Gboard’s “G button”, in the app’s settings menu, and when you are typing in the keyboard, you can tap that button to open up a search card, perform a Google search, and share the results with others.